Cup.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LAWRENCE W. LUELLEN, F NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CUP.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LAWRENCE W. LUEL- LEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Cup, of which the following is a specification.

In the development of coin-controlled apparatus for dispensing beverages, for which I filed, on April 2, 1908, an application for Letters Patent, Serial No. 424,732, I have found it desirable to employ a cup, so organlzed and of such inexpensive material, that it may be automatically delivered by a vend ing machine from a. stock or supply with the l1qu1d contents, it being considered as included in the sale, to be thrown away or otherwise disposed of by the purchaser.

The object of the present invention is to provide a convenient cup or container for this or similar purposes.

In the accompanying drawing, in which similar parts are. designated by the same characters throughout the several views, Figure 1 shows a side elevation of one embodiment of my invention; Fig. 2 is a top plan View thereof, and Fig. 3 illustrates a plurality of the cups nested as they would be in the supply, ready for use.

My improved cup, designated as a whole by the character C, is preferably formed from water-proof paper, this material being resilient, cheap and sufficiently durable for nest closely, as illustrated in Fig. 3,-a great number thus placed extending but a little the length andcharacter of the service which the article'is to perform. It has a tapering side wall 10 and a flat bottom portion 11, which may be assembled and secured in any desired manner, the, method of making not playing a part in the present invention.

The frusto-conical 'form and the comparative thinness of the wall lOallows the cups to distance, yet the edges about the openings of successive cups in the nested ser1es are separated by definite though narrow spaces m.

' Adjacent to the opening ofeach cup is a I projection which I prefer to furnish by a continuous flange l2iYftegral with the wall 10, it consisting of a single thickness of the paper turned over and ly ng substantially in the plane of the edge,

that 1s, at right angles to the longitudinal axisof the cup but forming an obtuse angle with the side wall. The.

flanges in a series are therefore approxi- Specification of Letters Patent.

flange. arranged that it will not become distorted Patented July 16, 1912.

7 Application filed May 23, 1908. Serial No. 434,550.

of tie cup when stored is inverted, to exclude dirt, and even when nested the lowermost individual of the series rests upon its Therefore, this flange should be so under the weight applied to it'and thus vary the width of the space a: previously referred to. This alone'would determine that the angle which the flange forms with the .flan e to the side wall. The natural position wall should not be more obtuse than that existing when the flange is at right angles to the cup-axis. Furthermore, as the flange passed this plane, or approached coincidence with the inclination of the wall, it would offer less resistance to being further bent in the same direction, diminishing its effectiveness as an engaging means. On the other hand, it may be desired that after the cup has been thus seized, it shall be inverted and filled with liquid, and that the weight of the cup and contents shall then withdraw it from the engaging mechanism by bending or straightening out the flange. so, to avoid undue resistance to such release, the angle of the flange with the cup-wall should not be less obtuse than ninety degrees with re- This fixes the angle of spect to the axis. maximum effectiveness at the intermediate position already described. The flange also strengthens the cup, and, because o'f its per- "pendicular position with respect to the axis,

offers the greatest resistance to lateral crushing stresses with a minimum of material and of labor in forming. In this connection there should be noted the peculiar cooperationbetween the cups when nested and theirf i flanges. Each cup as then strengthened, not only by its own flange but by those of a con siderable number of other cups which surround it. Consequently, when arranged in a series, the cups may be more safely forced together and handled. The overlapping cups of the series also tend to maintain the true circular cross-section of the terminal cup, and thus prevent its flattening by the inward spring of the sides and slipping out of the engaging means when the latter is drawing it from the stock. But after the separation of the cup from its fellows the lateral compression acts with the bending of the flange to aid in release.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A drinking cup for use in connection with vending machines made of thin flexible paper having an open end folded outwardly to form a narrow flange integral with the body of the cup v 2. A drinking. cup for use in connection With vending machines made of thin flexible paper having a narrow flange integral therewith around its open end, the flange forming an unbroken uniform part of the body of the cup. LAWRENCE W. LUELLEN. Witnesses:

H. J. POTTER,

AUSTIN M. PINKHAM. 

